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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 38: Active Matter VI (joint session DY/BP)
BP 38.8: Vortrag
Freitag, 13. März 2026, 11:45–12:00, ZEU/0160
Spontaneous emergence of solitary waves in active flow networks — Rodrigo García1, •Gonçalo Antunes2,3, Jens Harting2,4, Holger Stark3, Chantal Valeriani1, Martin Brandenbourger5, Juan Mazo1, Paolo Malgaretti2, and Miguel Ruiz-García1 — 1Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain — 2Helmholtz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg für Erneuerbare Energien (IET-2), Erlangen, Germany — 3Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 4Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany — 5Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France
Flow networks like animal/plant vasculature and power distribution grids can encode, transmit, and transform information embodied in the spatial and temporal distribution of their flows. To study these emergent dynamics, we focus on a minimal yet physically grounded system which supports information transmission. The system is composed of a one-dimensional network of active units that pump fluid via phoresis and elastic units that store volume. We coarse-grain the elastohydrodynamics to an active flow network model. We show that the pressure field can develop solitary waves, resulting in the spontaneous creation and transmission of localized packets of information stored in the physical properties of the flow. We show how the shape and speed of these waves depend on the physical parameters. When the elastic units are coupled to their neighbors, a critical size emerges, below which the solitary waves have a finite lifetime.
Keywords: Active flow; Solitary wave; Flow network; Elastohydrodynamics; Embodied intelligence